


The Art of Seeing

by Cathalinaheart



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Happy Ending, Holy Shit What Happened To Tony, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, Invisibility, Light Angst, M/M, mild body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-31 22:29:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20802623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cathalinaheart/pseuds/Cathalinaheart
Summary: After getting cursed by Amora Tony is starting to turn invisible. The only way to reverse the curse is a true love's kiss. Only problem, Steve doesn't know Iron Man and Tony Stark are the same person. And if Tony has his way it will stay like that.





	The Art of Seeing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Bingo square "Invisibility".
> 
> Thank you to the_casual_cheesecake for betaing. You are amazing!

Tony made his way to the armchair by the wall outlet he preferred for charging. One after the other each piece of armor was taken off until all he was wearing were his underpants and the chestplate. On the one hand, he was glad the Avengers always disbanded quickly after a fight, on the other he wouldn’t mind spending more time as Iron Man with a certain blue eyed hero. And no, he wasn’t talking about Hank.

He was still as amazed as he had been that first day; when he had realized he would be fighting next to Captain America. Since then he had learned that Cap really was as heroic as the stories told. But the man behind the mask was even more amazing.

Tony had always had a problem with falling in love too easily and it seldom worked out well. While he doubted that Steve would go and break his heart on purpose, there was no way his feelings could ever be reciprocated.

Lost in his thoughts, it took him unusually long to notice that something was wrong. His heart was always his first concern, every other injury having to take a backseat to it, but he didn’t remember getting injured this time. He got a bit banged around the armor, so some light bruises were expected, but nothing like this.

It looked like someone had cut a small part out of his right thigh, except there was no bleeding and it didn’t hurt. But he could clearly see his own flesh. He felt bile rising in his throat. Carefully, Tony prodded at the wound. Surprised he withdrew his hand. It felt normal. Like everything was still there, including the skin. He could even feel his hairs on the thigh. With closed eyes he wouldn’t know there was anything wrong. But he could clearly see inside of himself. It reminded him of one of those drawings in biology classes, a cross-section of the human body. But only a few centimeters deep.

There was no natural explanation for it. Which meant it was probably because of the beam of magic Tony had been hit with. He hated magic. 

But why? He remembered that Amora had been annoyed at him, because he kept blocking her from seeing Thor. She had been saying something along the lines of “The others don’t even know who you are, do they? No one sees you Iron Man. Not for who you really are and that shall be your doom.” 

Stupid Asgardians and their cryptic talk. Did she mean he would not be seen anymore? That would at least fit the wound. The upper layers of skin and flesh had just turned invisible after all.

There was no way he could let the other Avengers know. So far it didn’t seem to be anything that would stop him from performing his duties as Iron Man, and he did not want to be benched. Besides, regular pants would cover the wound, so nobody would even notice. He hasn’t gotten undressed in front of someone else in a long time.

* * *

When Tony went to bed that evening the weird invisible spot had grown to encompass most of his right upper thigh. When he pushed down his pants and saw that all that was visibly left was the bone and some lone patches of flesh, he barely managed to reach the toilet, before throwing up.

Once he stopped dry heaving he flushed the toilet, but kept sitting next to it, resting his head against the cool porcelain, eyes closed. His hand found his right thigh, pressing into it, reassuring him it was still there.

After a while the taste in his mouth got unbearable and he got up to brush his teeth. He grabbed one of his massive towels to wrap around his hips, to make it easier to avoid looking at the leg.

When he put on his pajama pants, he kept the towel on until the pants were securely in place. It reminded him of changing after swimming lessons in boarding school, when he didn’t want any of the kids to look at his body.

He got into bed and made sure to press his thigh into the mattress, so he could keep reminding himself that, despite what it looked like, it was still there.

* * *

The next morning the Avengers found themselves battling Amora again. Apparently she refused to give up on her quest to make Thor fall in love with her. Tony had donned his armor refusing to look at his leg, and hoped he could get Amora to tell him what she had done to him without any of the others noticing.

Tony and Steve had teamed up to capture the flying Enchantress, while the others were busy containing the Enforcer and the swarm of men Amora had placed under her thrall.

“How do you like the curse, Man of Iron?” Amora teased while dodging his unibeam.

You could always rely on the villains to bring stuff up at the most inopportune times. He wished he would have managed to get Amora alone first, before the curse was brought up.

“Curse?! What curse?” Steve stopped to stare at Iron Man, which gave Amora a chance to hit him with a concussive force beam. He got blasted several feet, hitting a concrete wall.

“Later, Cap.” Tony called out, after making the armor run a quick scan to make sure Steve would be fine.

Tony flew a bit higher hoping Amora would follow him, placing both of them outside of Steve’s earshot.

Predictably the Enchantress followed him, clearly considering Steve unimportant at the moment.

“What did you do to me?” He asked.

“Nothing you aren’t doing to yourself already. You will slowly turn invisible. Not that it will make much of a difference for you, I’m sure. And once you are no longer visible… Well let’s just say there will be less holding you on this plane of existence.”

Tony swallowed. “How do I stop it?”

He hoped Amora liked to hear herself talk enough to answer his question. Thank god for villains who adhered to the cliches.

“Oh, my dear, like you break any curse, of course. A true love’s kiss by the one person who actually sees you.”

_ There is no way to save me then _ , Tony thought bitterly. True love felt as far out of his reach as being able to fly to the Andromeda galaxy in his armor.

In that moment the shield hit Amora. Even Asgardians weren’t immune to distractions. In her gloating Amora must have forgotten to keep her protective shields up.

The fight wrapped up quickly after that, but Tony barely noticed it. His mind was too distracted by what he had learned.

Skurge and Amora were handed to Thor, who took them back to Asgard. The rest of the Avengers stayed to help with the clean up.

“Iron Man, can I talk to you?” Steve asked after Tony had finished lifting a tree from the street.

“Yes, Cap?”  _ Please don’t ask about the curse, please don’t ask about the curse _ , Tony thought.

“About that curse Amora mentioned…”

Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky.

“It’s nothing, Cap. She just tried to distract you” Tony avoided Steve’s eyes that were looking at him expectantly.

“Oh really? It didn’t sound like that at all. You seemed convinced it was real. Why else would you ask about how to break it?” 

Oh Shit. He clearly should have flown higher. Stupid supersoldier senses. He must have stayed silent for too long, because Steve took that as confirmation.

“You know you can tell us who you are, right? Your identity would be safe with us. If Mr Stark is pressuring you...”

It felt like Steve had stabbed a knife through his heart. Did he really have that low of an opinion about Tony Stark?

“He’s not. I just can’t, okay? And it’s not like that would break the curse.”

Tony wasn’t sure if he was imagining things, but he could swear Steve was blushing under the cowl.

“Uh, true love’s kiss, yeah. Do you know who she is?”

_ I do _ , Tony thought.  _ It’s you. That’s the problem. _

Steve continued: “If you tell me who she is, I could tell her all about how great you are! You are my best friend, any way I can help, I’ll do it.”

“There’s no need for that. They know all about what I do as Iron Man.”

“Then why…” Steve trailed off, not knowing how to finish the question.

Tony sighed. “They don’t know I like them. Like that, I mean.”

“Then you have to tell her, Shellhead. You are a great man, any gal would be lucky to have you.”

_ How would you feel if you knew it wasn’t a woman? _ Tony wondered silently in his head.  _ How would you feel if you knew it was you? If you knew who I really was? _

Tony wasn’t willing to lose his best friend over this.

“Thank you, Winghead, but there is no point in trying.”

“There always is, Shellhead. If you won’t let me help, then please, promise me one thing. Promise me you will try.”

Staring in Steve’s blue eyes, did Tony really have any other choice then to reply with “I promise” ?

* * *

When Tony undressed to charge his chestplate, he noticed that his right leg was completely gone and a spot of his left knee was missing. He was getting used to the frightening dichotomy of still feeling his leg, while being unable to see it.

Maybe he should actually try and honor his promise to Steve. If the end result was him ceasing to exist… But he couldn’t bring himself to approach Steve as Iron Man. He wanted to preserve that friendship. He was not willing to risk it for this. No, he would approach Steve as Tony Stark, Avengers benefactor, and ask for a date.

He put on a suit, checking in his floor length mirror that no one could see that parts of him had gone missing.

_ Deep breaths, Tony. You can do it _ . He kept reassuring himself as he made his way to find Steve.

After checking in the kitchen and the gym, Tony found Steve sitting in the library, surrounded by all kinds of books about magic. Was Steve trying to find a different way to lift Iron Man’s curse? Tony was touched, though he doubted Steve would be able to find anything in these books. But it probably wouldn’t hurt for Tony to do some research on his own. He had gotten so hung up on the whole true love thing that he hadn’t considered looking for an alternative.

He knocked on the door frame to announce his presence.

“Mr. Stark!”, surprised Steve looked up. It wasn’t often that Tony came to Steve in his civilian identity, so the reaction was understandable.

“Steve, I told you to call me Tony.” 

Projecting self-confidence Tony didn’t have in that moment, he walked over and sat down next to Steve.

“I wanted to ask you something…” The next words got stuck in his throat.

“Yes?”

“Uhm” Tony cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me.”

Steve’s face turned red.

“Oh, uhm, I’m flattered Mr Stark, really, but I don’t go out with…”

“Oh, sorry, stupid of me to assume”, Tony interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. Of course, Captain America didn’t go out with men. What a stupid idea.

An awkward silence settled between them, until Steve asked: “Has Iron Man told you what is going on?”

Tony thought he should have just left after he’d been rejected.

“Yeah, he has.”

“I’ve been trying to find a different way to break the curse,” Steve said, gesturing to the books surrounding him, “But I can’t find anything. Do you know who it might be? The person who can break the curse?”

“I’m sorry, no.” Tony answered. 

There, he had tried and he had failed. He didn’t want to stay and be lectured by Steve about his lack of helpfulness, especially when Steve seemed to hate Tony Stark so much.

“I gotta go, now. Important business call, you know how it is,” Tony quickly excused himself. He just barely saw Steve opening his mouth to reply, before he fled from the library.

He hid in his workshop.

There were probably precautions he should take. As soon as a part of him would start to vanish that wasn’t easily covered by clothing he wouldn’t be able to go out as Tony Stark anymore.

He decided to call Mrs Arbogast to let her know he’ll be taking a prolonged leave of absence.

But while Tony Stark wouldn’t be able to go out anymore, Iron Man still could. The armor covered all of his body after all. He just needed to keep the eye shields down when his eyes started to vanish. A shudder ran down his body. The thought of looking into the mirror and not being able to see his eyes freaked him out. He didn’t even want to consider what he might see instead.

* * *

Things didn’t seem to change much for the Avengers; Iron Man was still around, maybe more so than usual. And a prolonged leave of absence by the CEO of SI, was nothing new.

Steve spent more time with Iron Man trying to convince him to talk to his maybe true love. But he stopped once he realized that made the golden Avengers withdraw from him.

Tony had tried to do some research of his own, but he had also come up empty handed.

Every day he checked himself in the mirror. The sight was both disgusting and fascinating. Being able to look inside a human like that while there was still blood pumping through it was interesting. 

One night when Tony took off the chestplate to take a shower, he realized he could see his beating heart. That at least proved he had one.

Taking a step closer to the mirror he noticed he could see the tiny bits of shrapnel that were stuck in his chest. They were farther away from his heart than he had believed, while still being too close for comfort.

Entranced Tony watched these tiny bits of metal that were constantly threatening his life. He must have stood there for a long time, because he suddenly realized they were a bit closer to his heart than before. In panic his heart started beating faster. He swore he saw one of the pieces moving faster at that.

That jolted him into action. Quickly he grabbed the chestplate and put it on again.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he decided he didn’t need a shower tonight after all. It could wait for a bit.

The moment he saw his brain for the first time was comparatively nicer. He wasn’t nearly as freaked out by it as he had assumed. Maybe he was just getting used to being able to look inside himself. He spent some time looking in the mirror trying to see if there were any changes depending on what he thought about.

Still, a lot of the time he needed to close his eyes and just touch himself everywhere, just to make sure everything was still there.

By the time the Avengers were called out again, there was barely anything left of Tony.

* * *

When it happened, Tony was still in the air. The fight had finished fast, but he was making sure none of the weird rock troll things had escaped.

First he felt his right hand prickling, then nothing. Suddenly he couldn’t control that part of the armor anymore. He lost his balance and spiralled down, crash landing on the sidewalk.

The impact knocked the wind out of him and he must have lost consciousness, because the next thing he saw was Steve bending over him, concern clearly written on his face. What he didn’t see was the interface of the armor.

Shit, Steve must have ripped the faceplate open when he didn’t respond.

“Shellhead? You still there?” His voice was sounding unusually unsure. Steve’s hand hang halfway to Tony’s face, as if he was uncertain if he should reach out and touch him.

“Still here, Winghead”, Tony said. _ For now at least _ , he added in the privacy of his own mind.

Steve’s face lit up with relieve, before he frowned.

Oh, the faceplate was up. The voice modulators were not active and Tony hadn’t thought to change his voice. Maybe Steve would just not be able to place were he had heard that voice before.

“Mr Stark?” So much for that.

“I told you to call me Tony.” There was no point in denying it.

“You are Iron Man? But what… how...”, Steve seemed at a loss for words. “Wait. You asked me out.”

Why did Steve have to be so damn smart?

“I did.” It was easier having this conversation knowing that Steve couldn’t see his face.

“After you had been cursed. After I told you to ask out your...Oh, wow.”

“It’s okay Steve. You don’t go out with men. It’s fine.”

“What? No! I never said that. I don’t want to go out with my boss. It’s not proper. I also might have tried to brush Mr Stark, I mean you, off because I am in love with you, I mean Iron Man. Not that I don’t think you’re attractive. You are. Extremely. God, this is such a mess.”

Steve was turning beet red and Tony was stunned into silence.

Suddenly something seemed to have dawned on Steve. His gaze turned determined.

“I see you, Tony Stark, Genius Inventor, Iron Man, golden Avenger. I see who you are. A good person, a kind person. Someone that cares so much about others he is willing to risk his own life. I know who you are and I love you. All of you.”

“You don’t know everything, Winghead. My heart…” Tony tried to protest weakly, the image of the metal in his chest inching towards his heart flashing before his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter. I know who you are at your core.” Steve leaned forward, his breath ghosting over Tony’s face. “May I?”

Tony was glad that the chestplate was keeping his heart beating, otherwise he might have died in that moment.

“Yes,” he breathed out.

Steve closed the distance.

The kiss wasn’t perfect. Not being able to see Tony meant that Steve’s mouth first collided with Tony’s nose and there was some awkward rearranging before both mouths slotted against each other. But then… Tony Stark had been kissed by a lot of people, some more technically skilled at it then Steve. But this was the one kiss he never wanted to stop.

His right hand curled around the back of Steve’s head. He never wanted to let him go.

Wait. He had just moved his right hand. 

He pushed Steve away, reluctantly, and started stripping of the armor. His heart pounded in his chest and his hands were shaking. This he had to see. Until then he wouldn’t allow himself to hope.

“Uhm, wow, I am flattered, really.” Steve said watching him. “But I don’t think this is the right place for…” Steve stopped talking when he saw that under the armor, Tony had started to reappear.

Suddenly, Tony was left standing in the middle of the street wearing only the chestplate and a red thong.  _ Oops _ . It had to be better than wearing nothing though, right?

“It worked! Oh my god it worked!” Steve nearly crushed him in a hug.

Being crushed to death while Captain America gave his half naked body a hug had to be one of the better ways to go.

“Get a room you two,” came a female voice from his side. Jan.

Of course, the other Avengers were still here. Tony had forgotten about them, his whole brain occupied by Steve and the fact that he loved him.

Oh well, he guessed maybe it was time for them to learn the truth.

He took Steve’s hand in his own and turned to face the other Avengers head on.


End file.
